


Lovely Little Spitfire

by TheCrazyTeaLady



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Cute Peter, F/M, Parent Tony, Slow Falling before All At Once, Supportive Peter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-05-02
Packaged: 2020-02-16 02:04:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18681898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCrazyTeaLady/pseuds/TheCrazyTeaLady
Summary: Obadiah Stain was a horrific stain on Tony Starks mind before quickly disappearing and being replaced with new monsters and new betrayals, but Obadiah lives up to his name and will have a hold on Tony’s sanity even after death.Mo is stubborn. Mo is curious. Mo is sarcastic. But most of all, Mo doesn’t want anything to do with her biological father who didn’t realise she even existed. And so, Daddio needs to figure out how to get through to the recent 16 year old so that he can finally be something he never wanted to be, a father figure to someone else other than Peter Parker.Peter Parker however does not know what to think of the new girl who drags her feet to every class she had.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first time I'm not writing in first person, so any feedback you have please let me know :)

Tony was tinkering with F.R.I.D.A.Y the entire morning as he attempts to fix her circuitry around his and Bruce’s lab, which was due to an unfortunate mishap with a slip of someone’s hand and a couple of the wrong chemicals being mixed together.  
Ms. Potts had entered the building immediately after meeting with an Auditor for Stark Industries in Georgia that same morning, the file in her hands felt extremely heavy even though it held a very thin amount of paperwork, but the emotional baggage that came with it was worse than the aftermath of the first threatening alien contact humanity had publicly seen.  
Her heels smacked against the flooring as she made her way to the elevator, briefly holding up her hand at the receptionist who stood to greet her, she was a woman on a mission and she cannot be distracted. Not today.

  
“F.R.I.D.A.Y, take me to him.”

  
“Right away, Ms Potts, shall I alert him to your presence?”

  
“No, not this time.”

  
F.R.I.D.A.Y paused for a moment before she speaks again. “Your blood pressure is quite high Ms Potts, are you alright? Do I need to alert your General Practioner?”

  
“No… But keep someone on standby for Tony.”

  
Pepper’s heart was pumping incredibly fast as the elevator climbed up to Tony’s Lab, as soon as the elevator dinged and the doors opened Pepper power walked into the lab and quickly located Tony. “Tony, I need to talk to you-“

  
“I was just about to ask if you wanted to go to dinner tonight, I was thinking that steak house overlooking the harbour – you know the one? The one with that waiter who tripped over and pulled everything from the table onto himself –“

  
“Tony-“

  
“If you’re not up for that we can go get some Thai food, there’s a new restaurant opened up in Time Square-“

  
“Tony! Stop talking for just a moment!”

  
Tony paused and looked at Pepper in disbelief as he quickly took in her appearance, her face was red, her breathing was heavy, and her eyes were even puffy even though she looked like she had seen a ghost. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost; do you want glass water? Or maybe some white wine?”

  
“Anthony Stark, I need you be quiet and come sit with me, please do not ask any questions.”

  
Tony rolled her eyes and sat down on the stool while he wiped his hands on an old rag, the black oil on his hands stubbornly stained his skin, but it was more of an anxious fidget more than anything. “I’m all ears.”

  
Pepper moved around the thick counter top with bits and bobs of items that looked like they’ve barely survived some kind of explosion. “Tony, I requested a full and thorough Audit as there was a previous discrepancy that had only been picked up and we found… something.”

  
“Is someone embezzling money again?”

  
“I thought so, until I realised it was an automated pay system that Obadiah Staine had set up,” Tony stiffened as Pepper slowly put the file on the benchtop in-between them, but did not remove her hands. “Every February an amount of $350,000 Australian Dollars is deposited into an account which is then forwarded to a secondary account. This bank account is for the Saint Mary’s Disciplinary School for Misbehaved Girls.”

  
“Why did this not come up before? It has to be a front-“

  
“No, it isn’t, I paid for a thorough investigation and it’s not a front. It’s a boarding school for children from rich families who are pretty much unwanted. The investigators pulled the teacher’s files, the family’s files and the student’s files.”

  
“And? Does he have a kid?” Tony says as he pulls the file out from Pepper’s hands and opened it up, a picture of small group of thirteen girls and one stern looking teacher stared back at him. The girls had blank faces and looked almost horror movie-esque as they were all dressed in extremely old English Boarding school looking uniforms.

  
“No. He doesn’t.”

  
“Then why did he set these deposits up? And how come we didn’t pick it up before?” He looked up at her, confusion and annoyance written all over his expression as Pepper nervously looked at him before reaching out and grabbing onto his hands.

  
“I don’t know why we didn’t pick it up before, but the reason why he set them up was because sixteen years ago an Sharon Burke came to him and asked for help. She gave birth and passed due to complications and Obadiah decided that the child needed to be hidden from her father.”

  
Tony’s wheels in his head slowly snapped to a stop as he looked at Pepper with a dawning horror. “Who… Who is the farther?”

“It’s you, Tony, she’s fifteen now, about to turn sixteen-“

  
“No, no, this can’t be mine-“ Tony quickly pulled his hands away from Pepper and began to flip through the folder, stopping at the results of an DNA test completed almost sixteen years ago and one from two days ago. It was a match.

  
“Tony, I-“

  
“You knew for two days?!” He yelled, as he pulled apart the folder and quickly began flipping through the pages which contained school reports, banking transactions and finally a close up picture of a girl who stared back with a dead eyed stare.  
Tony couldn’t breathe, the girl had green eyes and brown hair with a little button nose that held brown wired glasses that looked like it came out the cheap glasses section in a pharmacy. “… I’ve been investigating for the past month, but I only just found out about the school on Monday and ran your current DNA tests against the past one of hers two days ago and got the results from a private investigator this morning.”

  
“I am registering an increase in heart rate within Mr. Stark, should I inform the standby medical staff member that we need assistance?”

  
“No F.R.I.D.A.Y-“

  
“I need to go,” Tony said as he stood up. He didn’t look at Pepper at all, the emotions within him were like someone blended together an angry hulk and a depressed looking child in the picture he held. “I need to go find her-“

  
“I have a plane ready to go Tony-“ Pepper had to hurry after Tony as he shakily held onto the folder. “Tony, I know you’re in shock and probably angry, but she may not even know your existence! They’re so far into the countryside they don’t even have reception-“ Pepper stopped dead as Tony looked at her with an expression she has never seen before.

“I’m not mad.”

Pepper stayed quiet as they dropped down onto the first floor, Pepper knew Tony wasn’t made, his level of anger has just surpassed Bruce Banner’s Hulk switch level and even though she never wanted to admit it, she was frightened of him for the first time in their relationship.

  
o~O~O~o

  
They were in a helicopter, Pepper watching as the Australian countryside zoomed past her while Tony stared at the picture of the girl. No, not the girl, his daughter, Tony thought to himself as he looked over her birth and school records.

  
He never thought he’d be a parent, maybe a parent of a new kidney sure, but never a child. A living being with thoughts and opinions of its own. He had tried the whole pet thing with a golden retriever and Steve Rodgers, but it never worked out since he was always busy with new projects.

  
“We’ll be landing in ten minutes, sit tight folks,” the pilot said and soon enough they had dropped and landed out the front of old three story building with bars on every window. Pepper did not get a good feeling about it as she stepped onto the school grounds; everything looked dark and gloomy as if they had just landed into a horror movie.

  
“May I help you?” A woman called out from the front door, she appeared to be in her late forties and the spitting image of Agatha Trunchbull from Matilda.

  
“I’m here for my daughter.”

  
“And what is her name?”

  
“Imogen Maree Stark.”

  
The woman didn’t move as Tony planted himself in front of her. She inspected him with little regard for who he was, his status and why he was here. “Imogen Stark has been missing for the past year, she left on her own volitation and we sent notification to the provided email address.”

  
“Excuse me?”

  
It wasn’t going to be easy for him, but Tony Stark won’t let anything stop him from seeing his daughter. And never before has he thought about how to bury someone as much as the woman he was staring at.

  
o~O~O~o  
Mo shivered as she stood behind the countertop, paused she stared at the cash in her hands before she shook herself and continued counting before handing the change back to the man standing in front of her. “Have a good day,” she chirped happily while smiling until he left the restaurant and she turned while looking at Matt who was texting behind the counter.

“What a fucking knob head.”

  
Matt shook his head at her. “I don’t know how you still got a job here, you dumped Luke warm coffee into that guys lap.”

  
“That’s what he gets for hitting on me.”

  
“My sister may run the place, but you do realise I still own like, half of it right?”

  
“Take it up with your sister,” Mo says while giving him the finger. “She’s the one that brought me over here.”

  
“Ah yes, our little illegal alien.”

  
Mo rubbed her cheek with the back of her hand as she looked at him through her thick framed glasses. “You wanna say that any louder, Matt? I don’t think the FBI fucking heard you!” Mo throw the wet cloth at Matt as he put his hands up in annoyance.

  
“Like I would snitch on you like that, not only would you be deported I would be imprisoned. And I can’t do prison, I like my phone and my freedom-“

  
“You could always have some asshole smuggle it in for you.”

  
Matt rolled his eyes before he continues to scroll through his news feed, leaving Mo to continue to clean up the small diner tucked between a 24 hour 7-11 with better coffee and a antique shop that never appeared to be open. Mo always thought it was a gang front, which she was correct about, but doesn’t need to know about that.

  
Mo couldn’t help but feel like somethings was amiss, like someone was tap dancing on her grave just so the hairs on the back of her neck would rise. There was a feeling in her stomach that made it feel like something was about to happen, making Mo fidget and eyes flicker around the empty diner. “Hey, I’m going to go get a smoke is that okay?”

  
“Sure,” she shrugged before sitting at one of the tables to begin sorting out the knives and forks into containers for the tables. Matt walked over to the door of the shop and pulled it open. At the same time however, a cat ran across the street and in front of a large blue sedan that was going 10km over the speed limit.

  
The driver, forty five year old Glinda Chase jerked the wheel to the right in an attempt to avoid the precious with life of the tabby called Spot. The sedans front wheels hit the gutter and caused it to fly across the footpath. Fearful Glinda stomped on the break and attempted to twist the steering wheel to correct her error.

  
Mo heard it before she could see what was happening. Looking up Matt was running away from the door as two headlights shined through the glass windows while quickly speeding towards her. The car collided with the windows while Mo sat paralysed in her seat as the car screamed towards her while pulling the building down around it.

  
Matt pressed himself in the corner of the diner while shaking in fear. The sound of debris hitting the floor while the engine in the sedan while it attempted to wheeze itself back to full functioning life. “M-Mo?” Matt whispered in fear. “Mo!” He yelled while attempting to scramble over the top of the building debris.

  
“Mo! Chicks-Dee talk to me!” He yelled desperately as he attempts to pull the top layer of rubble of of the ground. Glinda slowly stirred back to consciousness, her nose broken and an indent was left on her forehead from hitting the steering wheel before the airbag went off.

  
“Mo!”

  
Matt paused for a moment before he heard someone calling out to him. He scrambled over the top of the debris before he clawed at the ground before he removed what use to be a thin timber backing of an seat. Mo looked up at him with a shit eating grin once he made eye contact with her. “How are you smiling right now?! We almost died?!”

  
Mo coughed as Matt scooped the her out of the debris and attempted to help her through the rubble and outside of the Diner where a mass of people began to appear. “Mo?” Matt asks nervously as he helps her out of the Diner through the broken glass windows. “Why are you laughing?”

 

“How’s your investment going down, Matty boy?”

  
Matt paused while staring at the girl before letting go of her waist and gently shoving her. Police and ambulances were beginning to arrive along with the local news station. “You’re such an asshole.”

  
“I know!” Mo laughed as she gently pressed her forehead as is dribbled blood down her face. She stoped laughing suddenly as Mo’s green eyes flickered around the street. Everything was blurry and that was when Mo realised she should have invested in insurance, because her glasses were totally wrecked. 


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mo is blind and Tony finds a lead.

Mo was internally unscathed from the car accident, only superficial cuts and bruises were scattered across her pale skin and she had to argue with paramedics that she didn’t need any sort of treatment from them due to the bill she’d have to get if she did lay down and get a look over. After all, the American healthcare system was in shambles and Mo was not going to get another identity made by Ron due to the price of a cup of tea with the painkillers that they provided when she last went to hospital. 

“Hey Mo,” Matt says while nudging her, Mo’s red face turned away from the paramedic to Matt and then to small media circus standing behind the police tape. The driver was fine and was being treated for shock which left the ‘victims’ of accident in plain view of prying cameras. “Do you think if we acted sappy people would donate money to us?”

Mo eyed him quietly before looking back over the crowd of people who were looking at the car inside of the diner. “Probably… I mean, people love a good sappy story right? We could see if a Go Fund me can be set up since you didn’t have the place insured-“

“I will ensure you are rehired and have take out for dinner tonight,” Matt states, cutting Mo off with a pleading look.

“I would much rather not look for another job, so sure,” Mo says before taking his hand in hers and they both began walking towards the crowd of onlookers who either that their phones out recording or were underlings at their press company. 

“Are you the owner of this diner?!” 

“Are there any serious injuries? Will you be suing the driver?”

“Was there anyone else inside?”

“How did you make it out alive?”

Matt gripped Mo’s hand tightly and couldn’t open his mouth to talk, for the first time in his life, causing Mo to squeeze right back and step forward to take action. “We are exceptionally lucky today, myself and Matthew who partially owns Sophie’s Diner with his sister, Sophie, were the only ones within the restaurant. The driver of the car has minor injuries and I am glad that no one was hurt badly. We will not be suing the driver as this was an accident. When the car drove through the front of the Diner Matt was able to dive into the corner and managed to avoid any debris or the car. I was pinned under one of the tables, but luckily Matt was able to quickly pull me out before I got hurt too badly. Thank you all for your concern, however we will need to be going to discuss the possibility of rescuing what is left of Sophie’s Diner, hope a great day!” Mo says before dragging Matt through the crowd and stuffed him into a waiting taxi. 

Matt’s hand had become clammy as he held onto Mo for comfort – not that he’d ever admit to her of course, Mo instructed the taxi driver to take them to Matt’s apartment before turning her attention back to him. “You’re not going to go into shock, are you?”

Matt shook his head before his eyes slowly looked over Mo. She was covered in dust, all 5”2’ of her, she had some nicks here and there but appeared to be functional. “Did you really not get hurt?”

“Yeah, there wasn’t really anything on top of me, and the car didn’t exactly hit me either, I just got winded when a table decided to bounce towards me.”

Mo also stated the facts and what was on her mind, so Matt didn’t object or doubt her words for a second. “Are you going to stay over at all? I’m sure Sophie will be fine with it-“

“Matt… No offence, but I am fine. And if I knew almost dying by a car would get you to even like me I sure as hell would not have been in that Diner when it hit.”

Matt rolled her eyes before he pulled his hand out of hers. “I’m guessing you’re going to get off on the next intersection like normal then?”

“Yup.”

“Don’t get mugged.”

“But I was really aiming to be mugged Matt,” Mo rolled her eyes as she leaned her elbow on the door of the taxi. “That’s just my goal in life, hey, maybe some super hero wannabe will swoop in and save me before carrying me off into the sunset?” Mo watched the blurry outside world pass her, scrunching her nose as the lack of heavy frame from her glasses reminded her that she was indeed blind from a foot onwards. 

“Save your sarcasm for someone who has not seen you accidentally electrocute yourself with an jacked up water dispenser.”

Mo turned and pointed at Matt’s face in annoyance. “That was not a water dispenser, it was meant to be-“

“It was meant to be some sort of water purifying thing that mixed in three different flavours so that the customers can have some ‘lovely lemon water, or even raspberry water, oh and don’t forget watermelon! Think of all of the possibilities Matt! I could make us rich!’” Matt says in a high pitched voice as he mimicked Mo’s excited pitch for one of many failed inventions. 

“Hey Matt, fuck you,” she said as she rubbed her dirty hand on Matt’s face, the middle finger prominently poking his his soft skin. “I’m hoping out now man, thanks for the lift, Matt will pay you!” Mo hopped out of the cab and waved at the driver before giving the finger to the back seat.

Turning around Mo scuttled off of the intersection crossing and onto the footpath before she slowly made her way home. Her hands found her small Nokia in her uniform and dialled her brothers shared message bank. “So, I’m assuming you’ll hear about Sophie’s restaurant basically put out of business… and I suppose I should let all of you assholes know I’m alive,” she said quietly. However instead of her usual sarcasm and self deflecting personality, Mo’s voice was stripped down to pure vulnerability and slight disbelief. “Let me know if you guys need anything, I’m just heading home early now,” Mo didn’t know what else to say, so she hung up the call and walk to her old apartment building. 

Sliding the key into the lock, Mo stepped into Apartment 15 and dead bolted the door behind her before she picked up her old prescription glasses and pushed them onto her nose. As she stepped over the broken and pulled apart old and long forgotten electronics, Mo followed the small pathway into the bathroom. 

Glancing at the long mirror Mo pulled the yellow dress that ended above her knee off and quickly showered to get the dust and dried blood off of her body. After a few moments of scrubbing the bar of soap all over her arms, face, and even hair Mo stood still under the warm water with her eyes closed. 

Mo is never the one to have thoughts swirl in her mind, instead she’s more of the person never have any thoughts unless it’s something she’s attempting to plan or figure out. Instead, Mo just feels the weight on her back become stronger than before, the numbness in her chest from the absence of her brothers was now aching in an attempt to process no being with them, biological or not.

Mo was alone for the time being, she knew it would end sooner or later and she wasn’t selfish enough to ask them to come back to her or if they can take her back with them. They needed to live a life and she was not going to mess that up for them. Family is meant to support one another until the very end and that is what she will do. 

Her pale hand found the towel before her head exited the water and planted itself on the rough surface. Both of her hands grabbed the towel before she scrubbed her face dry before turning off the water and wrapping the towel around her body. Stepping out of the shower Mo wandered into the only room in the apartment which was a bedroom, small kitchenette and a small space in between all in one. She pulled an Men 3XL shirt before tugging her mint green doughnut shorts over the top of her underwear. 

And then and only then did she make herself a cup of tea before opening up a large text book next to her half filled workbook and began copying the most important notes. 

o~O~O~o

Pepper Potts was on the phone. She had been ever since the Head Master of Saint Mary’s Boarding School which was located deep in the country side of South Australia (when the reception allowed it). She was attempting to contact the United States Embassy in Australia while every other contact she believed could help.

Tony however was quietly sitting in the nearest bar to the boarding school which was over six hours away. He stared at the dark liquid in his schooner while attempting to think, but he couldn’t. He was completely and utterly number as he sat on the uncomfortable and warn out bar stool, unable to process the events that have begun to take place. 

“What’s the matter with you?” The hold bartender asked. His name was Timothy Andrews McGregor, born the 15th of November 1968, and he has seen enough of the warn out and dead look that the mysterious man in front of him had. 

“I just found out I have a kid.”

“Aye, and how old is she?” 

“Almost sixteen.”

Tim gave a low whistle. “Did her mam run out on you?”

“Quite the opposite actually, she passed away giving birth and hadn’t told anyone,” Tim shook his head and leaned over the counter to give Tony a top up. “And I just found out she’s missing.”

“That’s on the house mate,” Tim murmured before staring at the man in front of him. “Alright, listen,” he said while leaning against the counter while lightly flicking Tony with the hold rag in his hand. “This kid right, she may be missing, but I bet you she’s feeling worse than you do now.”

“That’s an absolutely stunning piece of advice-“

“But I bet if she knew who you are she would seek you out, or she doesn’t know who you are. So, what are you doing to find her?”

“I’ve begun contacting the US Embassy here, well, my partner is-“

“Aye, and what are you doing? What are you doing right at this moment to show her that you are her father and you mean business? Because at the moment I see a man sitting at a bar looking like he just came out of that American Alien invasion.”  
Tony snorted as he turned the glass in front of him. 

“Do you even have a picture of her?” Tim asked as kindly as he could.

“Yeah of course I do,” Tony pulled the picture out of the folder that laid discarded next to him. “Her name is Imogen.”

Tim picked up the photo and looked at it with his eyebrows knitted together. “She looks like you, the poor girl,” he joked before he looked at the man and then back to the picture. “Hang on a second,” he said before leaving the bar and disappearing through a door way.

Tony pulled out his phone and attempted to figure out what his next step was, because even though the bar tender looks like a serial killer who picks up hitchhikers, he had a point. He quickly placed the phone next to his glass. “F.R.I.D.A.Y-“

“Hey, this is my grandson,” Tim says while he sits the old laptop in front of Tony. “See,” he points at the screen to show an mid twenty year old man smiling while a small group behind him sit around a camp fire. “And that looks like your girl.”

Tony’s eye snapped to the picture on social media and pulled the laptop closer to him. A young girl stood in the background, holding two sticks or marshmallows behind another persons head, a large and cheesy grin on her face as she looks at the camera. “That’s her.”

“He went backpacking with some school friends last year. They’re all that’s my nephew, Terrence, his friend Alex, Sam, Danny, Bobby and Ron,” Tim pointed to each boy in the picture. “They’re all twenty five, besides Danny who is turning twenty six. They’re good boys and would never hurt a fly and I dare say they took Imogen in as soon as they met her. I met your lass briefly when they came back through here before they went overseas. She was smart for a kid, obviously I knew she wasn’t eighteen like they said, but she held a better conversation than most of the town.” 

Tony clicked through Terrence’s Instagram and it slowly showed his daughter growing up over the year she had been missing for. The last entry was from four months ago. 

“Why didn’t they hand her over to the police?”

“To be honest, I wouldn’t have handed her over either,” Tim shrugged. “She was looking after those boys better than their parents ever did. The boys don’t contact home anymore, this town isn’t somewhere you come back to you see, it’s somewhere you escape from.”

“Why do the pictures stop? Where did they go overseas too?”

“Well, Terrence won a position at some big shot company in America and the others followed suit. I’m assuming your girl went with them too, but I don’t know what happened after that.”

Tony pulled out his ear piece from his suit pocket and pushed it onto his right ear. “F.R.I.D.A.Y can you find Terrence Rowe and run a facial recognition on his Instagram? There’s a four month old picture of Imogen can you use it to begin facial recognition against all social media platforms?”

“Yes Mr. Stark.”

Tony’s eyes stared at the laptop screen before he looked at the bartender who was looking at him weirdly. “Americans,” Tim mutters before he turns away and begins arranging the liquor bottles. “Always talking to their fancy phones and Tuesdays.”  
Tony didn’t answer, merely took the money out of his wallet before leaving it on top of the laptop before he stood up and walked out of the bar. He paused on the side walk to put his sunglasses on before he heard a shout of disbelief from inside of the bar, which means Tim had turned around to find a few hundred dollars for a small schooner of beer. 

Pepper was leaning against the black Jeep while staring blankly into the distance. She had called everyone in her contact list, even some of Tony’s team members who are stretched thinly across the globe. Each person she contacted seemed incredibly calm at the prospects of Tony having a almost sixteen year old daughter, but inside each one of them were a string of confusion and cussing at the fact that the highly resourceful and competent Tony Stark cannot seem to find her… Let alone only just find out about her existence. 

“Mr Stark, I have located a possible facial identity match.” 

“Let’s see it F.R.I.D.A.Y,” Tony says while he walks past Pepper and climbs into the backseat of the car. He sits there for a moment, hand hovering over the computer panelling dividing the front seats and the back seats as he can’t help but pause and have a thousand worries flit across his mind. He then sticks his head out of the door and looks at Pepper expectantly. “Are you coming for the show? F.R.I.D.A.Y says there is a possible facial identity match.”

Pepper nodded and quickly climbed into the seat beside him, Tony’s hand quickly claiming her own before he decided he was ready. “Go F.R.I.D.A.Y.” 

“First match-“

“First match? How many are there.”

“Seventeen.”

Tony bit his tongue before he waved his hand over the screen. The first girl appeared on the screen, one who definitely was not his daughter however very similar. Tony quickly swiped for the next one, who was also not his daughter. The next one wasn’t either. In fact, none of the seventeen were. “Well, at least we know she comes after her mother,” Pepper attempts to joke as Tony leans back into the seat in frustration. “She doesn’t seem to like the lime light.”

Silence met her words.

“Maybe she’ll set up a Twitter soon or-“

“No, I don’t think she is the one for social media. Of all the Private Instagram posts that her ‘friends’ posted, every picture doesn’t quite show her entire face or it isn’t well lit. It’s like she’s hiding from someone.”

“Or she isn’t that confident in herself. Lots of girls have self confidence issues at that age Tony-“

“She wouldn’t just leave a school at the age of fourteen with nothing but the clothes on her back Pepper. She could have died while walking to the nearest town and if what they say is true, then they don’t do outside excursions so she was completely cut off from society.”

Pepper was quiet for a brief moment before she sighed and opened her phone. “I called your friends-“

“Friends?”

“Natasha said she’ll look into the school as it peaked her interest. Everyone else said they will help you look for her.”  
“You shouldn’t have done that, that isn’t their job-“

“They don’t care about it being their job Tony, they care about you and knowing them they would feel more angry that you left them out of what could be a very life changing moment for you. You need support and as your angry at me I needed to make sure you had the right support system-“

“I’m not mad at you.” Pepper slowly blinked before squeezing Tony’s hand. “I may have snapped earlier, but I’m not mad at you… I just… I never expected to have a kid before. I never thought I’d be the fatherly type. And now I apparently have one and not only is she pretty much sixteen, but I didn’t know she’s been missing for the past year. I don’t know what she likes, I don’t know if she’s a Zepplin or a Bowie person, I don’t know if she likes coffee or tea, I don’t know if she’s interested in technology, I don’t know if she would like to even know me! What happens if she does? What happens if she knew I was her father and decided to hide because she didn’t want anything to do with me?”

Pepper pulled Tony into a tight hug as he attempted to keep his breathing normal, but the lump in the back of his throat and the prickling within his eyes were making incredibly hard to do so. “I already fucked it up, I really did Pepper and there will be nothing I can do to change it-“

“Mr. Stark I have a-“

“Tony, you have not failed, you have been given a change to show this girl what it truly means to be a Stark and have you as a father. It’s never too late to build bridges, you should know that by now.”  
“Mr. Stark-“

“I don’t think I can do it. I really-“

“Mr. Stark-“

“Not now F.R.I.D.A.Y,” Tony interrupted as he slowly pulled away from Pepper. “I just, I don’t even know what her dreams are. Or her beliefs. I don’t even know what her voice sounds like Pepper.”

F.R.I.D.A.Y decided it was best to play the video clip from Twitter despite Tony not providing permission to do so. “We are exceptionally lucky today, myself and Matthew who partially owns Sophie’s Diner with his sister, Sophie, were the only ones within the restaurant. The driver of the car has minor injuries and I am glad that no one was hurt badly.”

“Can you turn that off F.R.I.D.A.Y, I think we’re having a moment here-“ Tony looked at the screen and froze as the girl looked directly into the camera while talking about the accident she had been in. “Imogen.”

“This is an 100% match, Mr. Stark.”

“Thank you, where is she?”

“Georgia.” 

“Pep-“

“I’m on it Tony, don’t worry, we’ll get there as soon as we can.”


End file.
